Thilanga Sumathipala, the former controversial and notorious president of Sri Lanka Cricket Board (SLC) who could not contest the recently concluded board election due to his alleged involvement in his family betting and gambling business, on Sunday tried to mislead media and Cricket fans alike by claiming that he along with Board President Shammi Silva and Secretary Mohan De Silva met the International Cricket Council (ICC) officials. Further, Sumathipala and his gang circulated photographs with ICC officials claiming that they attended world’s governing body’s board meeting.
“Sri Lanka Cricket wishes to announce that following high level discussions with the ICC, the new Executive Committee of the SLC has successfully secured its due portion of finances from the ICC amounting to US$ 11.5 Million (over Rs: 2 Billion ) which was withheld since July 2018.
The funds were released after SLC President Mr. Shammi Silva, Immediate Past President Hon: Thilanga Sumathipala and the SLC Secretary Mr. Mohan De Silva took part in the ICC Board Meetings and also held high level discussions with the ICC Officials on the matter.
SLC delegation also discussed with the ICC, matters pertaining to 2019 Cricket World Cup and also mapping out of SLC’s future International cricket tours and development programs.
The SLC delegation also contributed a clear voice in the world cricket affairs as a full member state with the freedom of managing its overall affairs & strategies without any political interference.
In a separate meeting with the President of the Asian Cricket Council; SLC delegation has pursued the importance of holding the “Asia Cup 2019” and to cooperate with ACC in all” the SLC Media release stated.
However, when Cricket Age inquired with ICC, it learnt that neither Sumathipala nor Mohan De Silva attended the ICC meeting on Sunday. Only SLC CEO Ashley De Silva was present during the chief excutive meeting.
It has further learnt that Sumathipala, Mohan De Silva and Shammi Silva deliberately stayed in the same hotel, where ICC top officials were staying. In order to mislead media and Cricket fans, Sumathipala and his gang took the photographs with top ICC Officials in the hotel lobby and circulated on social platforms.
It is noteworthy that during his previous tenure at SLC as President even, Sumathipala could never attended ICC meetings, due to his alleged involvement in his family betting and gambling business. He had always skipped ICC meetings and used to send other SLC officials to attend the meetings.
However, as now, he has put his dummy Shammi Silva as SLC President, he went to Dubai on joyride and now is trying to clean his Image by taking and circulating photographs with ICC officials.
